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Table of Contents
Title
Ice Ice BabyBroad Question
Does the shape of an ice cube affect the time that it takes to melt?
Specific Question
Does the surface area of an ice cube affect the time that it takes the ice cube to melt?
Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that an ice cube with a surface area of 40 cm^2 will take a longer time to melt than an ice cube with a surface area of 32 cm^2.
This hypothesis is based on a research paper. Heat flows through the air, into ice cubes. With a larger surface area, it is going to take a longer time for the heat to circulate through the ice cube, whereas with a smaller surface area, it is going to take a shorter amount of time for the heat to circulate through the ice cube. Heat will cause the ice cube to melt, changing from a solid to a liquid.
Graph of Hypothesis
Variables
Independent Variable:
Surface area of ice cube (115 cm^2, 77 cm^2, 66 cm^2)
Dependent Variable:
Time it takes ice cube to melt (seconds)
Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
## = Notice the instruction of cutting 7 centimeters off of the top of each cardboard container in the procedure; this is merely to make pouring tap water into the cardboard container easier, and isn't a crucial aspect of the experiment. As long as 100 mL of water is capable of settling at the bottom of each size cardboard container, the amount of cardboard cut off, if any, does not matter.
Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation
Surface Area- The total area of the surface of a three-dimensional object.
Volume- The amount of space inside a solid figure (cube, sphere, cylinder, etc.).
Absorbent- Capable of soaking up a liquid easily.
Rectangular Prism- A solid figure with six rectangular shaped faces.
General Plan
Potential Problems And Solutions
Problem: Finding containers with different surface areas, but the same volumes.
Solution: An idea was proposed by Mr. Yahna. He stated that instead of finding specific containers with different surface areas, but the same volumes, the experimenter could just find different cardboard containers and using a graduated cylinder, fill the containers with the same amount of tap water.
Problem: Accurately deciding when the ice cube has completely melted.
Solution: It was decided to place a dark absorbent cloth under the melting ice cubes, so that when the time came that the ice cubes were almost completely melted, it was easier for the experimenter to see the remaining solid.
Safety Or Environmental Concerns
There are not many safety or environment concerns that could potentially come from this experiment. While cutting the tops off of the cardboard containers, be careful not to accidentally cut yourself. Safe, slow, and cautious cutting could prevent this from happening.
Click on the following URL:
http://wwgimd.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/becareful.jpg
Experimental Design
During this experiment, the time it takes ice cubes with different surface areas to melt will be measured. The experimenter will run this at the Jones residence, on the kitchen table located directly under a 60 watt light bulb. This experiment will be run on the following days: Saturday March 2/Tuesday March 5, Saturday March 9/Tuesday March 12, and Saturday March 16/Tuesday March 19. On the first day, Saturday March 2, the experiment will be run with the ten half pint cardboard containers. After cutting the tops off of the 10 half pint cardboard containers with 7 inch scissors, they will be filled with 100 mL of tap water, and will then be placed 3 centimeters apart in the kitchen freezer for three days. On Tuesday March 5, the ice cubes will be removed from the freezer and and will be set 5 centimeters apart on the kitchen table (covered with dark absorbent cloth) to melt. Stopwatches will be started for each ice cube as they are placed on the dark absorbent cloth. Next, the surface area (cm^2) of a single ice cube will be calculated and recorded in science notebook. Every hour, the experimenter will hold a camera 1 foot above the melting ice, and take video(s) and/or picture(s), and every 45 minutes will make and record observations. Once all of the half pint ice cubes have melted, stopwatches have been stopped, and results have been recorded, materials will be cleaned up. On Saturday March 9, the experiment will begin with ten 1 quart cardboard containers, and on Saturday March 16, the experiment will begin with ten half gallon cardboard containers.Resources and Budget Table
Width: 9.5 cm
Length: 9.5 cm
(science teacher)
Width: 7.6 cm
Length: 7.6 cm
(teachers, parents, etc.)
Width: 7 cm
Length: 7 cm
(science teacher)
Length: 5.94 cm (58.6 mm)
Width: 0.93 cm (9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)
Height: 52 cm
(found at JCPenney)
Width: 105 cm
Length: 145 cm
Height: 21 cm
Height: 45.7 cm
100mL
(science teacher)
(found at Walmart)
Height: 17.8 cm
Timeline:
Friday March 1: A practice experiment is run with one of each size cardboard container: half pint, 1 quart, half gallon.
Saturday March 2/Tuesday March 5: The experiment will be run with the ten half pint cardboard containers.
Saturday March 9/Tuesday March 12: The experiment will be run with the ten 1 quart cardboard containers.
Saturday March 16/Tuesday March 19: The experiment will be run with the ten half gallon cardboard containers.
Sunday March 17: All data is recorded and placed in data table, all materials are cleaned up.
Detailed Procedure
## =Take picture(s) and/or video(s) of experimenter completing step
Must click on the following URL:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g8iHRIzZ90U/UCb1exivwxI/AAAAAAAAAjs/MOSDzNl6zwM/s1600/Can't+stop+thinking+cartoon.png
Diagram
For a more..well done picture, click on the following URL:
http://0.tqn.com/d/math/1/0/G/F/RectangularPrismr.gif
Data Table
More adept version of data table:
https://docs.google.com/a/students.jbartlett.k12.nh.us/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoqKn3aAGnvLdGVxRUMwQjlVUVI2azN6Z1RZbTA3TGcData Analysis
All Raw Data
Observations:Photo List
(Those that are bold can be found under the "Photos" section of this wiki.
Graphs
Photos
Results
The average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 115 cm^2 was 18221 seconds. The average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 77 cm^2 was 28312 seconds, and the average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 66 cm^2 was 33315 seconds. An ice cube with a larger surface area took approximately half the amount of time to melt than an ice cube with a smaller surface area.
Conclusion
The experiment was designed to test the effect of surface area on the time it takes an ice cube to melt. The results show that the larger the surface area, the shorter the melting time. The average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 115 cm^2 was 18221 seconds, for an ice cube with a surface area of 77 cm^2 was 28312 seconds, and for an ice cube with a surface area of 66 cm^2 was 33315 seconds to melt.
Discussion
An experiment was conducted to determine if the surface area of an ice cube has an effect on the time that it takes it melt. From this experiment, it was discovered that an ice cube with a larger surface area will melt at a faster rate than an ice cube with a smaller surface area. The average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 115 cm^2 was 18221; for an ice cube with a surface area of 77 cm^2 was 28312 second; and for an ice cube with a surface area of 66 cm^2 was 33315 seconds.
It was hypothesized that an ice cube with a larger surface area will take longer to melt than an ice cube with a smaller surface area. This hypothesis was based on the following statement: heat flows through the air-it will take longer for heat to circulate through a larger ice cube than a smaller ice cube which causes it to melt.
All of the data collected during this experiment supported the following statement: when the independent variable (surface area) increased in size, the dependent variable (melting time) decreased in time. Something that made collecting data fairly simple, was the consistency in the melting times. The melting time for each surface area ranged, at the most, 600 seconds. Something that was similar about each ice cube, was the size of the puddles around them. When each ice cube was about halfway melted, the puddles around them were of the same size. When each ice cube finished melting, the puddles were, again, the same size. This makes sense because each ice cube had the same volume. There weren't many other patterns in the data.
An ice cube with a larger surface area will melt faster than an ice cube with a smaller surface area because of the surface area to volume ratio. The ice cube with the larger surface area has more exposure to the warm air, so more heat is being transferred into the ice cube, causing it to melt faster. Other scientists have run similar experiments to this, and the results have varied. For the most part, the results that other scientists found, correspond with the results from this experiment.
This experiment originally dealt with finding cardboard containers with three specific surface areas. This was much too difficult, so a few weeks into researching, Mr. Yahna proposed the idea of using different cardboard containers, and using a graduated cylinder to pour the same amount of tap water into each cardboard container. Another aspect of this experiment that wasn't 100% successful was the spacing between each ice cube on the kitchen table. Running the practice trial, the ice cubes were placed approximately two centimeters apart on the kitchen table. An hour into the melting time, puddles (absorbed by cloth) formed around each ice cube, invading the neighboring ice cube’s space. This liquid was warm due to the surrounding heat, which may have sped up the rate that the other ice cubes were melting at. The procedure was changed to spacing the ice cubes five centimeters apart instead of two, in hopes to give the cubes more space to melt.
To make this a better experiment, more organization of data would have helped greatly. For instance, creating a table to write down all of the trial data, averages, and surface areas would have made for an easier science fair project. Lastly, gathering a larger amount of provisions, such as cardboard containers, would have been helpful in making this experiment more accurate. With more supplies, more practice trials could have been run, enabling the experimenter to work out the kinks in the experiment.
In order to freeze the ice cubes, a "Kitchen Magic" freezer was used. The freezer was at 0 degrees Fahrenheit for each ice cube, and the ice cubes were evenly dispersed among the freezer compartments (three centimeters apart) for three days. Once the ice cubes were frozen and removed from the cardboard containers, stopwatches were used to keep track of the time each ice cube took to melt. This was measured and recorded in seconds.
The knowledge gained through this experiment could potentially benefit food businesses. In order to save resources, it is important to keep a large portion of food chilled. Based on the temperature of the region the food is in, the business may be wasting ice, or wasting food. With the results from this experiment, food businesses could make better and more accurate choices regarding the packaging of cold foods. They don’t want the ice to melt, resulting in the food going bad. This could help not only food businesses, but just society in general. Saving resources is something that is often taken for granted.
Future experiments/questions that could build upon the knowledge that was gained through this experiment consist of: does the shape of an ice cube affect how fast it melts? In this experiment, ice cubes with different shapes, for instance a star, sphere, and square could be tested to see which of the three melts at the fastest rate. Although these experiments don’t strike a given person as “interesting,” in the long run, they really could help businesses and homes, as mentioned above. It would be interesting to see if the results from that experiment would correspond and support the results from this experiment. Another interesting experiment to run could be measuring the amount of time it takes boiling water to solidify in a cold environment.
Background Research
Heat Capacity- Heat capacity is a given amount of heat a substance must take in in order for the substance's temperature to alter. Depending on the substance, it may require a lot of heat, or a little heat. With the exception of ammonia, water has the highest heat capacity.
Water- Chemically, water is referred to as H2O; this is created when two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bond. Different from many other substances, water has no color, odor, or taste. Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. When ice freezes it expands approximately 9% of its original volume. Water is the only substance that can have three different phases at normal human temperatures-liquid, solid, gas. Molecules in water are constantly moving around, whereas molecules in ice are often considered to be motionless. The molecules in ice form a hexagonal shape. Water's boiling point is 100 degrees Celsius, which is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ice- Much like water, ice has no color and no odor. When water is at the temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, which is 39 degrees Fahrenheit, it will decrease in size, but when it is below 4 degrees Celsius, it will increase in size. When water reaches its freezing point, 0 degrees Celsius, (32 degrees Fahrenheit) it will turn into ice. Ice floats in water because its density is less than the density of water (1.0 g/mL).
Thermodynamics- Thermodynamics is the study of energy, and the way energy converts itself from one form to another. In thermodynamics, there are two principles. The first principle simply states that in a "system," the total energy will remain constant. The total energy is not capable of decreasing and increasing, but is capable of changing form. So, if you were to melt ice, the temperature of the ice would increase, (get warmer) but in order to match, the surface of the table that you are melting the ice on must decrease (get colder). The second principle states that heat only flows in one direction, which is "from a hotter object to a colder object." Using the example above, this would mean that the heat from the surface of the table would flow into the ice. "The coldness in the ice does NOT flow anywhere."
Melting/Freezing Point of Ice/Water- When something begins to change from a solid to a liquid, it is called the melting point. The freezing point of the substance is the same temperature as the melting point. The freezing and melting point of water is 0 degrees Celsius, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It is at this temperature, that a liquid (water) and solid (ice) exist at the same time.
Other- Because of surface area to volume ratio, larger ice cubes will melt slower. An example was, "imagine a big cube of ice, with six sides. Heat flows from the air, into the ice, through the surface. As the temperature of the ice rises, it begins to melt. Now imagine chopping that cube into pieces. Cut the cube in half down the middle, and the two remaining ice cubes will have a total of 12 sides. Cut those 2, and the 4 blocks sport 24 sides. The result: same volume of ice, but much more surface area." With more surface area, more of the ice is exposed to the heat, which will melt the ice.
References
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to determine if surface area of an ice cube affects melting time. It was hypothesized that an ice cube with a surface area of 115 cm^2 would have the greatest melting time, and an ice cube with a surface area of 66 cm^2 would have the least melting time. The experiment was run with ten trials for each of three surface areas: 115 cm^2, 77 cm^2, 66 cm^2. The average melting time for an ice cube with a surface area of 115 cm^2 was 18221 seconds; a surface area of 77 cm^2 was 28312; and 66 cm^2 was 33315 seconds. The results show that an ice cube with the largest surface area melts fastest.